It’s Official!

Allright, after much contemplation and watching my bank balance drop (I won’t disclose the amount or else my parents might have a heart attack, but let’s say it’s a couple Benjamin’s), I have decided to sign up for the Goofy Challenge and a Half. But that’s not all, I’ve also decided to do the 5K. I wasn’t planning on doing it, but Brennan has decided to run his first 5K ever! I figure if he’s going to be there watching me run the half and the full, he should at least participate in the 5K. We even get Disney shirts and a medal for it (lol I am a little obsessive with collecting medals). Of course I am going to do it with him and run by him the whole time. It’s going to be amazing running through the park. I haven’t really looked into the courses yet for any of the race, I’m hoping it’s fairly flat. What’s the weather like in January? The last time I went to Florida was in the middle of summer and it was muggy, hot and humid with lots of mosquitoes. Living in SoCal has totally spoiled me weather-wise. Anything below 60 degrees is considered freezing here, and anything above 85 is scorching hot, seriously. I hate to admit it, but a lot of my winter training is actually done indoors on a treadmill. The tentative schedule looks like this:

Thursday night: Arrive in Orlando, FL

Friday: 5K run at 7am

Spend the rest of the day at some amusement park, any good recommendations? I think B wants to go to Universal Studios Island of Adventures

Lots of resting and eating of course…

Saturday: Half Marathon at 5:50am

Another amusement park? Since we won’t have a car, our traveling is sort of limited to what’s around us. Hopefully, there will be a blogger meet up that day! Can’t wait to meet some people who are also running the full marathon

Another day of resting and eating and eating…

Sunday: Full Marathon at 5:50am

Fly back to L.A shortly after 😦

It’s a super short week and we’re cramming so much in, I hope everything works out. I am so excited to take part in this amazing endurance challenge. I know now not to fear the distance, but to respect it. That is what training is all about. The hard part will be the months leading up to this race, getting in the long mileage. I’m thinking one weekend I need to do 20 miles Saturday and 7-10 miles Sunday, just to reassure myself that I am capable of finishing. I have no idea what my time goals will be, should I treat Saturday like a easy 13 miles instead of really pushing myself?

Training will start back up soon for me. I have the Long Beach Marathon in October to train for, but there will still be 3 months after that race before the Disney race. I’m just hoping I don’t burn out again like last year. I found myself becoming obsessed with the numbers and the amount of miles I was hitting each week that I forgot why I started running in the first place. Running has brought me a sense of accomplishment and an overwhelming feeling of amazement that I am capable of going the distance. It has made me grateful for my health and well-being and serves as a constant test of my dedication to training for something I am passionate about. Here are some motivational running quotes that has inspired me and pushed me through the toughest parts of my training

“Racing teaches us to challenge ourselves. It teaches us to push beyond where we thought we could go. It helps us to find out what we are made of. This is what we do. This is what it’s all about.”
-PattiSue Plumer, U.S. Olympian

The greatest pleasure in life, is doing the things people say we cannot do.
— Walter Bagehot

Run like hell and get the agony over with.
–Clarence DeMar

. “In running, it doesn’t matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last. You can say, ‘I have finished.’ There is a lot of satisfaction in that.”
-Fred Lebow, New York City Marathon co-founder

“The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.”
-John Bingham, running speaker and writer